NBA superstar Stephen Curry is one of the most influential players the league has ever seen. It’s not a lie to say that Curry changed the game of basketball forever. His ability to consistently hit insanely long-range shots has influenced players around the world. And we are now witnessing players from all levels pulling from half court now and then. Also, the amount of 3-pointers attempted in a game has gone significantly up over the last few years.
Son of former NBA veteran Dell Curry, Stephen Curry was not rated very high after high school. It was during his college days Curry made a name for himself. Even though the sharpshooter made a lot of heads turn with his displays for Davidson College, not many predicted he would be an MVP someday.
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However, a former teammate of NBA legend late Kobe Bryant predicted Curry would be an MVP of the league. It was none other than Metta Sandiford-Artest.
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He played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 2009 to 2013 and won an NBA title in 2010. In a recent appearance for the ‘I Am Athlete’ podcast, the former DPOY revealed his prediction of Stephen Curry in 2013.
Metta Sandiford-Artest predicted the rise of Stephen Curry
During the podcast, Artest was talking about his all-time top-5 players. And former Lakers star Nick Young asked how he would rate current players like Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. Sandiford-Artest revealed he predicted that Curry would be an MVP a couple of years before he actually won the award.
He said that it is on his Twitter anyone can check it. He continued, “And people was like, ‘Nah, he ain’t getting MVP.’ You can look on my Twitter. Then I say ‘Yo he gonna be top 15.’ I said it like three years ago [Curry won the MVP].”
And he was talking the truth. He did predict the emergence of Curry in 2013 before he won his MVP award on Twitter. He also received a lot of backlash for the comment. However, the fans are witnessing it now. Funnily enough, Sandiford-Artest misspelled Curry’s name as Steve Curry.
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Curry gets the #Twinhearts co sign
I think Steve Curry is Top 10 in the NBA.
If he works on his defense , he will be MVP next year.
— Metta World Peace (@MettaWorld37) May 9, 2013
In 2013, Curry had his breakthrough year as he averaged 22.9 points, 6.9 assists, and 4 rebounds per game. He would prove Artest’s prediction in the next couple of years, as he won his first MVP award in 2015.
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He also helped the Golden State Warriors win the NBA title that year. In 2016, he successfully defended his MVP award and made the list of very few players to win back-to-back MVP awards.